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Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. (ed), Mugabeism? History, Politics, and Power in Zimbabwe. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, 319pp.
This is an 'all in one' kind of book about the history, politics, and economy of Zimbabwe from the liberation struggle on. The book is about Robert Mugabe and his Mugabeism, or what Mugabe 'says' he is and what he 'exactly is'. It responds to the lack of biographies on Mugabe who is the oldest and the longest serving post-independence African statesman, the man whose life has been dominated by secrecy, rumours and gossip. The book consists of several essays written by scholars from different disciplines, trying to make sense of Mugabe by exploring the various, contested meanings of the Mugabe phenomenon, his thinking, his feeling and his modus operandi. With convincing arguments, the book shows how the life of Mugabe is intrinsically linked to the history of Zimbabwe and ZANU-PF. The book reveals the great secret of how Mugabe has survived internal and external challenges and pressures.
Making use of oral and written sources and through meticulous and well balanced research, the book breaks the one-dimensional presentation of Mugabe, dominated by Pan-Africanists and Western Imperialism, which portrays Mugabe as admired versus demonised statesman, patriot versus traitor, liberation hero versus post-colonial tyrant, man of racial justice versus Black Hitler and revolutionary versus human rights violator. The book argues that "Mugabe cannot be unproblematically praised or simplistically dismissed".
The authors, particularly the Zimbabweans, are commended for a courageous and neutral discussion of controversial and sensitive issues of power dynamics, some of which still affect Zimbabwe today, like the genocide in Matabeleland and Midlands, the power dynamics between Shona and Ndebele and the various financial scandals.
With a few exceptions, the book develops a balanced narrative of the strained relations between the West and Mugabe, making...